The Scottish School
by forty-two dreams
Summary: Helga Hufflepuff just wanted to see a new bit of the world with her mysterious tutor Mistress Ravenclaw. She had no idea she would end up going down in history; you see, she's sure she's not half clever enough to be a professor. But someone's got to sort out homesick first-years, scared house-elves, new traditions, and of course, the meals! Will this castle ever become a home?
1. The Hufflepuffs

Spring's prettiest sunset winked its way through young Helga Hufflepuff's fiery coronet braids as she watched her younger brothers and sisters whirl around the maypole. Only a few summers ago, she had been among them, but she stood now with her governess, stern Mistress Ravenclaw, trying to mimic the older woman's reserved and mysterious smile. It wasn't working. Helga was famous in her large family for four things: her generous spirit, her special edible gifts, her prowess at tug-of-war, and her enormous, enormous smiles. Lady Hufflepuff groaned sometimes because she feared her oldest daughter would never find a husband, but Lord Hufflepuff was certain that any man with a warm soul and a large stomach could make a fine wife of Helga someday.

"Excellent as always!" he told her over tea, relishing one of her flourished cakes. "How clever to bake them in the form of cauldrons! Why, these are even better than your pumpkin pasties from Samhain, my dear."

"Oh, did Helga help the cook with the baking this year?" asked Aunt Pomona politely.

"Help?" said Lord Hufflepuff. "T'would be more correct to say the cook helped Helga!"

Helga smiled, enormously.

Tea had barely ended when Helga's younger brothers, Horace and Henry, were tugging at Mistress Ravenclaw's skirt and demanding the treat they knew they had coming. "Dance the ribbons!" they implored.

Mistress Ravenclaw frowned at her pupils. "What do I always say about children who tell instead of asking?"

Henry waved his hand, oblivious as always to context. "That they are never answered!"

Helga bounced on the balls of her feet, ruining her new dancing slippers, but remained properly silent. She was anxious to see this year's trick, too.

At last, Mistress Ravenclaw took up her slender wand (eleven-and-a-half inches, ebony, containing the tail feather of an eagle owl), and flicked it solemnly upward. Immediately, the colorful ribbons of the Hufflepuff maypole took flight and began to shimmy and contort in the loveliest fashion. Leaving their pole behind, they formed nets, rings, and even darling tiny ribbon people who waltzed together beneath the fading sky. Finally, the whole cloud of ribbons burst forth in every direction like a firework, returned primly to Earth, and reattached itself to its base.

"How marvelous!" Horace said. Everyone present agreed

Mistress Ravenclaw bowed. When she rose, however, her eyes sent silver teardrops spilling down her nose.

"What's the matter?" said Helga, taking her teacher's arm carefully.

"Oh!" said Mistress Ravenclaw. "It's just ... Children, I've had some news lately," she announced.

"Has someone died?" asked Lady Hufflepuff.

"No, thank goodness," said Mistress Ravenclaw. "But I'm afraid I will be leaving you quite soon."

"Leaving?" bellowed Lord Hufflepuff. "But why?"

"My dear old friend Lord Slytherin has written me a letter," she said. "I cannot refuse ... I owe his father such a debt ... An opportunity has arisen with which Lord Slytherin requires my assistance."

The effect around the table was immediate. Twenty Hufflepuffs cried out together in surprise and sadness. Poor Henry, who was the first to recover, looked up at Mistress Ravenclaw with his honest blue Hufflepuff eyes and asked, "Will you miss us, Mistress?"

"Oh yes," she said. "All except for Helga."

Helga nearly jumped. Had she so vexed Mistress Ravenclaw with her pranks?

"Why?" said Henry, so that she would not have to.

"Because," said Mistress Ravenclaw, peering down the table. "If I have my way, she'll be coming with me."


	2. A Letter from Hogsmeade

Helga read through Lord Slytherin's letter carefully for the fourth time. She felt as though in the past few days, a vast new world had opened up to her. But of course, the world had always existed: Helga just hadn't paid it much mind before.

Dearest Rowena,  
Nearly ten years have passed since you quit Glen Affric. Your friends the centaurs do very well, and since you introduced my father to their number, they have raised the attention of several celebrated scholars. The powerfully magical forest in which they reside has proven to be of such fascination to naturalists, potioneers, and wandmakers alike that a small settlement has sprung up on its edge. Travelers have taken to calling it 'Hogsmeade', due to the alarmingly poor quality of the spirits served at the town's only inn, and the name has stuck. I have never before seen a town consisting entirely of wizards, and I find it extremely agreeable to conduct my magical business openly!

Unfortunately the reason I write to you is one of sorrow rather than joy. The beast Ragnuk has gained terrible influence in our part of the country. In the past year alone he has abducted three young wizards as prisoners of war. The cowardly race knows well not to engage any senior wizards in combat, but we cannot prevent them from preying on every foolish apprentice who has drunk much of ale. It has been suggested that we would do well to safeguard the young people of our settlement in some more secure location until they can be trained to hold their own in a duel against the goblin menace.

It is for this purpose that I require your assistance, Rowena. You have a ready mind and a talent for instructing young ones. I believe if you and one or two trusted assistants were to teach our young wizards to defend themselves against the dark arts, they might be quickly readied for battle.

The stronghold is already under construction. Will you come?  
Yours truly,  
Lord Slytherin

Of goblins and scholars Helga knew little, but one thing was clear to her: the children of the north needed their help! Mistress Ravenclaw had written back straight away to say that she and her assistant would make the journey. All that remained was to say goodbye.

Horace, Hilda, Hannah, Harold, and Henry came first, sobbing earnestly, and she assured them she would return someday to Cardiff, and when they grew bigger, they might be allowed to travel to Scotland to see her and her new charges. Next, Lord and Lady Hufflepuff entered the room.

"We will miss you greatly, my daughter," said Lord Hufflepuff. "We have something to give you to remember us by."

Lord Hufflepuff held out a large golden goblet engraved with the Hufflepuff coat of arms, a solemn badger on a field of canary yellow.

"Grandfather's cup!" exclaimed Helga.

"Yes," said Lady Hufflepuff. "'Tis said to possess the power to test betwix loyal friends and would-be betrayers. If one might contrive to pass it before a stranger's lips, it shall choke the guilty and bear up to those of pure heart the sweetest wine imaginable."

Helga embraced her parents warmly. "You always knew how to keep us all safe."

"You must be good and mind Mistress Ravenclaw," said Lady Hufflepuff. "You may be old enough to leave home, but in your work, you must represent this family in all you do."

Helga nodded solemnly. "I will make sure no harm comes to our name."

Lord Hufflepuff smiled grimly. "Never mind the name. I would rather you made sure no harm came to you."


	3. In the Hog's Head

They apparated at first light. Helga had never apparated more than ten miles before, nor did she know the way, so Mistress Ravenclaw carried her side-along. The pair emerged in the dim area where a large forest met a small road. Evidently, Mistress Ravenclaw was familiar with the forest but not the road.

"This must be it," she said, and led Helga up the path. Soon, they came to a dusty street containing many charming buildings. To their right, a sign read 'Apothecarie', and to the left, 'Magick Wands'. At the end of the street, a freshly-painted sign proclaimed the existence of the Hog's Head Inn and Public House. Under this sign stood a waxy-faced man, whom Mistress Ravenclaw seemed to recognize.

"Lord Slytherin!" she cried, and ran to take the man's hand.

"Dear Rowena," he replied. "How good it is to see you! I am so glad you made it safely to our humble town. But you must come inside."

"The way seemed safe enough," said Rowena. "We encountered no goblins."

"Goblins, nothing!" said an old fellow behind the bar. "It's the muggles one must watch for! And you don't need to worry, because I spelled the entire boundary of this town meself."

Lord Slytherin grimaced. "Rowena, may I present Hengist of Woodcroft, founder of Hogs-Meade?"

"Pleased to meet you," said Rowena, taking his wrinkled hand. "And may I present to you Lady Helga, of the broad valley?"

"Oh, dear! I had not expected one quite so young," said Lord Slytherin.

Helga felt a heat under her skin. She had wondered if she might be too young for a tutor. She was still studying herself in the mornings under Mistress Ravenclaw's direction, although her parents had been teaching her the family business as of late as well.

Rowena pursed her lips. "Lady Helga is seventeen years old, and extremely capable for her age. She is the oldest of six children, and I have brought her along to manage the domestic side of your school. Young people must be fed, washed, tended, and such, and I shall be far too busy to see to such things."

Lord Slytherin smiled. "Very well, Rowena, as you see fit. Although I had of course never planned to leave you berift of elves."

"Lady Helga gets on splendidly with elves. And in time I believe she will make an excellent tutor."

Helga flushed scarlet. So that was all right! She was simply going to be mothering the children, the same as she did her own brothers and sisters. It sounded a bit exciting, like being housekeeper.

Hengist set down his mug. "Now, wait just a minute. A load of common apprentices aren't going to need to be looked after like noble children by any Welsh laird's daughter! Why, my apprentice is fourteen years old, and h'aint been coddled since he were a bairn. Find a cook-elf and a maid-elf and you'll be all set."

Lord Slytherin's eyes met Hengist's. 'We've had this conversation before,' said their eyes.

But Lord Slytherin said only, "There is nothing common about being a wizard, Hengist. I should rather be a magical menagerie-keeper than a Muggle prince. In time I hope the academy we are founding now will draw the children of all economic classes, so that they can be initiated into their true class: the stewards of humanity."

"Fair enough," said Hengist, "but I don't want my apprentice getting too big for his robes, thinking he's entitled to be served."

Salazar said, "You needn't worry then. At my school, wizards shall dress themselves, bathe themselves, and wait upon themselves. Why should a person compel another person to serve one when one possesses a wand?"

He turned to Helga. "You must both call me 'Salazar', and we must call you 'Helga'. And while at your school, you must disregard the origins of your pupils and treat them all as younger brothers and sisters. Muggle titles are unimportant out here; it is only in their world that entire human lives must be sacrificed to service one another's comfort. One day, I hope to see Hogs-Meade grow into a great capital city for a new nation, one where no person need serve another, and no person need serve the earth with labor, because all will possess the power to compel the elements to do their bidding."

Hengist laughed wheezily. "I'll drink to that. If Diagon doesn't beat us to it!"

Rowena smiled. "I am glad to hear your refreshing views ... Salazar. And now, if Helga and I might retire to our rooms?"

"Of course," said Salazar.

"You had best levitate your own luggage," said Hengist. "What Salazar says about serving oneself, he sorely means!"


	4. Hogs-Fort

In the morning, Salazar, Helga, and Rowena walked down to the edge of the forest to see the grounds of their new undertaking. Looking out at the space cleared, Helga felt prematurely proud. A crystal-transparent lake glistened up at her, teeming with grindylows, merpeople, and a dozen or so enormous squids. Manticore eyes peeped out of the forest like candles, batting away quantities of golden snidgets, and a perfect Creaothceann cliff towered over the grounds. Already, the foundations of a four-room citadel marked the rich earth. Here, she could well imagine, young wizards might study magic not only with books, but with their eyes.

"Have you ever attended a castle-raising?" asked Salazar.

"No," said Rowena.

"Yes," said Helga. "When my aunt and her husband were first wed, a small tower was raised for their benefit. My family is very talented at castle-raising; we almost never need respell the foundations."

Salazar chuckled. "Well, Hogs-Fort will need to stand a sight larger than a newlywed tower. In time I believe dozens of scholars may come to study here each year from far-off cities, bringing their tutors with them. After all, Diagon has no educational facilities, nor yet a library."

"What's this about Hogs-Warts having a library?" asked the incredibly handsome young man who had just approached. "There won't be room, will there be?"

Salazar looked down. "Ladies, allow me to present Godric Gryffindor, of Peverell's Hollow. Godric, this is my old friend Rowena Ravenclaw and her spirited young protege, Helga. And for heaven's sake, my school is to be referred to as Hogs-Fort!"

But Helga had scarcely heard. Godric was a mountainous young person, dressed all in animal skins and wild ornaments. A Muggle-style knapsack covered most of his back, and whatever polish his boots may have owned at their cobbling had clearly been left behind on some lonely mountain-top. The only sign of magical origin she could find on Godric's person was large, pointed black wizard's hat obscuring the top of his frizzled mane.

"Call it what you like," Godric was saying. "I've drawn up the plans right here, and we have until sundown to put it up."

Rowena wrinkled her nose upon glancing at the parchment. "Oh, no, good sir. This will not do."

"And why not?" Godric asked her. "You need not worry about the roof; it will hold for decades with a good hovering charm!"

"But this is not nearly enough space," Rowena protested. "We shall require, at the very least, an astronomy tower, an infirmary, a dormitory, a dining hall, an entrance hall ... "

"An entrance hall!" Godric cried. "Do you believe we are constructing this fort for social calls?"

"We haven't the room for all the things you have listed, Rowena," said Salazar softly. "We should need to cut down half the forest."

But Rowena was already pulling a quill from her pocket. "Our world contains three dimensions of space," she told them calmly. "If the space exists not on the ground, we shall have to build upwards."


	5. Knights and Castles

Many three-dimensional diagrams later, the raising of Hogs-Fort had begun. Many local villagers had turned out to help. While Salazar and Horatio Ollivander carved out cavernous dungeons to fulfill Rowena's grand fantasies, Magdalena Gaunt and her brother Marius were pulling huge stones from the earth to use in the base. Godric and Helga, meanwhile, spelled every yard of the school's perimeter with spells to keep out unwanted intruders.

"Do we really need to drive iron spikes through the head of every muggle and goblin that comes within a mile of here?" Helga asked fearfully.

Godric smiled. "Salazar doesn't think much of muggles, does he? Goblins are nothing but trouble, surely, but muggles are of nearly the same stock as us. I should say we'd better make them think they're seeing something uninteresting or dangerous, and we won't say any more about it to Salazar or Hengist."

"But why have you agreed to assist in this endeavor," Helga asked, "if you do not think the young wizards in need of defence?"

At this Godric looked slightly wistful. "I suppose I would that some place like this Hogs-Warts had existed when I was a lad. My father was a muggle and, though kind and well-meaning, would not pay for my magical instruction, even had we the money to spare. When Salazar intimated to me his plan to create a place of magic, a place to welcome all wizards, I could not refuse him, whatever I may think of his battle plans."

"Then you do not think it likely that a war should occur?" Helga asked, relieved.

"Not if we show caution," said Godric, casually skipping stones across the lake. "Those muggles who do not want us among them cannot object to our taking refuge in a place they know not, and if they should ever discover us, I believe a handful of enchanted armor should suffice to defend the castle. Nor will the goblins likely pursue us if they know us to reside within a stone's throw of a forest full of centaurs sympathetic to our cause!"

"Then goblins and centaurs -"

"Cannot abide one another. Goblins are overfond of material glory, you see, where the centaurs value nothing nearer than a star away. But in battle, the centaur archers prevail with consistency, and the goblins know it."

Godric and Helga finally reached the end of their circuit. Then, "Silly!" cried Godric. "We've forgotten to include an entrance." Quickly, he twirled his wand widdershins and caused a large archway to appear, complete with guardian animals.

It appeared they had finished none too soon when suddenly, Helga caught sight of an energetic knight vaulting over the landscape toward them.

"Cadogan!" shouted Godric with glee. "You scared me!"

The knight raised his helmet. "If you please, it is Sir Cadogan! I have most recently been knighted by the king himself!"

Godric could not contain his chuckles. "Allow him passage, Helga. This is Cadogan of Peverell's Hollow, come to make sure we don't chop off any goblin heads without him."

Cadogan hopped off his rather fat pony and bowed deeply to Helga. "Can it be Lady Helga of the Broad Valley?" he said, voice thick with emotion. "But I have not seen the fair maiden since she was a child! Your beauty, my lady, has trebled since that date."

Awkwardly, Helga returned his greeting. "Well met, sir. We were about to rejoin our fellows; perhaps we could converse further after our task is completed."

Cadogan agreed vigorously.

Soon it was time to raise the walls. Rowena, who had enchanted all the pillars prior to their raising, gave very particular instructions as to their position, even when Helga could not discern any difference from one to another. But, watching them glide smoothly into place, she was sure Rowena had a plan. Soon, the party was striding up a flight of stairs to begin work on the north and south towers. Rowena, claiming she had a surprise for them, remained below in the new entrance hall.

"Do the walls not seem a bit bare?" Salazar worried, flicking a balcony into existence.

"Worry not!" cried Magdalena, in high spirits. "My father is a skilled artist. He has agreed to paint several appropriate portraits to decorate the fort."

"You must paint me!" Cadogan demanded. "I am an excellent model."

When the party had re-assembled in the Great Hall, they all looked around for the promised surprise.

"Well," Salazar finally said, "with what delights do you favor us, Rowena?"

She replied simply, "Look up."

As they did so, they saw not a rough layer of beams, but a dazzling replication of the evening sky, just as it appeared outside the castle.

"How charming!" said Marius.

Rowena smiled modestly. "So that the students may at all times be able to read the portents in the weather, and also the predictions of the stars," she said. "Castles can be so constraining. I should like it if all students of Hogs-Fort knew how to take the big view of things."


	6. Tutors and Pupils

Pupils had begun arriving three days in advance. From Rome, from Paris, from strange countries of which Helga knew not, wizards poured into Hogs-Meade with their children. And still they came, on flying carpets, on hippogriffs, on foot and in litters. Brushing past one another in the Hog's Head, they overran the entire town, carrying with them a dizzying array of carriages, salamanders, tutors, trunks, and servants. Salazar had warned everyone that Hogs-Fort had no room for ladies' maids or valets, but several wealthy acquaintances of his family didn't seem to have gotten the message. Gathered at the large table of the inn, the founders fielded many questions.

"But I do not understand!" cried the Earl of Wessex. "You cannot expect my son Ethelred to live like a common child with none to wait upon him."

"Then he shall dwell not in my castle!" Salazar said. "Let his talents remain undeveloped. But when your earldom is set upon by evil magick, ask not for aid from Hogs-Meade!"

Meanwhile, Rowena was dealing with the druids from across the sea. "Will my young sister Cliodna be taught the art of divination at your school?"

"No," Rowena said. "Divination is nonsensical. I teach my students transfiguration, potioneering, charm-casting, animal husbandry, Latin, logic, grammar, and history. The young gentlemen I also instruct in curses suitable for dueling."

"Oh," said the druid sadly. "I had been told you were to teach the fair magicks. We shall return home now."

"Wait a minute," said Rowena, tipping her head slightly. "The centaurs perform the rites of divination splendidly, if inaccurately. You may as well learn their techniques, if you are bent so on it."

At the mention of centaurs, Cliodna's eyes lit up. "The man-dobbins you have here?"

"I shouldn't call them that, but yes. They dwell in the forest alongside Hogs-Fort."

Her brother smiled serenely. "Then this will be a fine place."

Helga was jotting down names on her scroll as the others conversed. "And how will you be paying for your education?" she asked of little Alanna Black.

The girl's mother shyly held out an egg.

"Oh, dear. What sort of creature shall hatch from that?" said Helga. She had never excelled at animal husbandry and quite frankly could not tell a dragon's egg from a basilisk's.

"We know not," admitted Ava Black. "My husband kept it carefully for many years, telling us it would hatch when balls of flame fell from the sky. He has died, and the egg is all we have to offer."

Helga looked up at Alanna's keen pointed face. "It will be more than enough. I'll see to it myself."

As Godric tried to talk Mavis Gaunt out of boarding her niffler flock in the school shed, Helga sought a quiet word with her tutor. The castle would be dedicated tomorrow, and she simply didn't know where she would find the room for all these pupils!

"We shall have to transfigure all night for the furniture alone," she said. "But how can we care for so many?"

"By teaching them to care for themselves, of course," said Rowena. "Though I admit, I did sorely underestimate the interest. I had envisioned a dozen local children to look after. We shall have to divide them into several classes based on experience, I should say. Helga, you must take the young ones; you should be well able to teach neophytes to summon and levitate. I shall help the more experienced to transform and brew."

"And I shall teach them to fight!" Godric declared. "No man has dueled me and lived. Though I do wish as well that there were not quite so many. Salazar, why have you invited half the continent's royalty to this school?"

"I have not!" Salazar declared. "I had written merely to a few select acquaintances, and I know not how the others caught wind of it."

Helga smiled. "You know how it is with our kind. My ma took me to the broom races one year, and we could hardly move for people. Wizards simply love to gather in large groups and try to prove themselves to other wizards."

"That," said Salazar, "is what I am counting on."


	7. The Dedication

The flames of a hundred candles danced upon the high table of the school's brand-new great hall. Godric was raising his wand solemnly to each of the four winds.

"I dedicate this fort," he proclaimed, "to the bold spirit that must lead all new ventures."

Sparks were rising from his wand, scarlet and gold sparks which wrapped themselves around the entire room.

"And I," said Rowena, "dedicate it to the wisdom I wish to share with you all."

Blue and bronze ribbons, not unlike those from Rowena's May Day treat, detached themselves from her wand and joined Godric's.

"I dedicate this fort to those of wizard blood everywhere," Salazar announced, adding his family's ancient green and silver smoke to the trail of color.

Helga's voice wobbled a little, but she kept pace with her elders as she said, "I dedicate this place to the bonds these young people shall forge to last their whole lives through!" and unleashed a fine mist of Hufflepuff yellow and black which completed one slow circuit of the Great Hall.

Following their words, the signs the four founders had unleashed were coming together to form a strange crest. Though divided into quadrants, the symbol looked right somehow. In the center, a large "H" proclaimed the permanent union of Hogs-Fort. The crest slid its way to the castle's front door and affixed itself, there to guard the students and professors for hundreds of years.

"Welcome to Hogs-Fort!" said Salazar to the children. "I am delighted to begin your magical training. I hope you will all study well and become experienced witches and wizards who can defend yourselves against any threat. Bring in the feast!"

Helga had been up with the house-elves since before the cock crowed, teaching them to make her recipes and getting everything ready. And as they carried in the roast ox, everybody's nose perked up. Presently, the students sat down and fell to eating and talking. With half her mind still counting wash basins and bed sheets in the dormitory, Helga listened to the chatter of her guests.

"I don't know about these all-wizard villages," said Rosamund Weasley. "It isn't natural of you to shut yourselves away like this. You'd think the muggles were the ones with the special talents!"

"Alas," said Hengist, "they make up for their deficiencies in numbers and sheer hate."

"Nonsense," said Rosamund. "Why, my mother was a muggle!"

Salazar suddenly dropped his goblet with a clang.


	8. Polite Dinner Conversation

Salazar's eyes focused upon Rosamund with a fearsome precision.

"Your mother was a muggle?" he repeated after her, smiling with teeth of venom. "However did you withstand her unnatural ways?"

"Oh, she was quite natural," Rosamund continued, oblivious to what she had said. "A regular saint, my mother was. Of the thirteen of us ruffian children, nine or ten were witches and wizards - no one was ever quite sure about poor Francis - so we had her outnumbered growing up! And my father made sure we learned the proper arts, of course."

Helga knew the Weasley Witches were famous among magical persons, although she had no idea that Rosamund, Ginevra, and Margaret Weasley had muggle siblings. She sensed Salazar's ardent desire to banish his half-blooded guest, warring inside with fear of making an enemy of the numerous Weasleys.

"How fascinating," Hengist said weakly. "And you lived together without undue quarrels?"

"Oh, we quarreled like rabbits," Rosamund assured him fondly. "Gideon would demand some magical favor, and Margaret would refuse him, so Gideon would soak her new boots in the lake, so Margaret would turn him into a duckling ... We always made up though, and we always defended one another fiercely against the neighboring children."

"I cannot fathom it!" Hengist cried. "Most unlikely! Why, our house in York was burned to the ground when its occupants were discovered to be practicing the noble arts, and we were not the first, nor the last!"

"How awful," Rosamund replied. "Is this why so many wizards behave unkindly toward muggles? Why did not you stop their attacks with magic?"

"They are inventive as the day is long!" said Hengist. "They made off with our wands whenever our backs were turned, they encased us in bonds, and in many cases they ran swords through us while we slept, the cowards! It is vital that everyone in this castle understands that the most important thing we can do to protect ourselves from this serious menace is to work as closely together as they .. and to destroy any strange muggle on sight."

Now it was Godric's turn to lose his composure. "I shall destroy you first if you try, Hengist!" he bellowed, reaching for his wand. "To assume any living creature means you ill is to live like an animal yourself. We are here to learn to defend ourselves from things we know are trying to kill us."

Students were beginning to take notice of the quarrel at the high table. Alanna Black, William Weasley, and Mavis Gaunt, who had just been getting acquainted, now watched their elders with fear and excitement. Sparks were sputtering from Godric's wand, but so far Salazar was simply grinning yet more icily at him. Meanwhile, Rosamund was rolling up her sleeves, and Mavis wondered if she was going to see some of the famous Weasley Witch malice in action.

"Is that your mother?" Alanna asked in awe, noting the similarities in their appearance.

William ducked his head. "Oh, yes. She does this sometimes."

But before any serious damage could be done, Rowena took action. The next thing the combatants knew, they were all encased in thick globes of magical glass.

"Clear the table, Helga," she said calmly. "And find somewhere to roll those four out of the way until they're ready to behave themselves."


	9. The Girls' Dormitory

Alanna Black woke at dawn, missing the cackle of her mother's farm animals in the early morning. However, the castle was far from still. Twenty-two young ladies tossed and snored in the beds beside her. Pulling on her nice blue robes and finding she didn't know what to do until the appointed time of waking, Alanna began sweeping up the floor with a spell her mother had taught her.

She was still at it when Helga came in half an hour later. "Dear child!" said Helga. "How kind of you. But the elves and I can manage."

"Are you not to be our instructor?" asked Alanna. "In the village school, teacher always made us to do the sweeping."

Helga smiled. "I suppose we'll all have to do our bit for Hogs-Fort. But now you must breakfast quickly before the day of instruction begins. Will you help me rouse your fellows?"

Alanna agreed and turned her efforts to Flora Malfoy. "Rouse yourself, please," she suggested to no avail.

"Oh, no, Alanna," Helga said. "You will have to do better than that. These are not farm-girls accustomed to such hours, but half at least spoiled high-born-girls."

"Are they?"

"Yes. I know because I was one not long ago!" She then turned to Flora and shouted, "Dung-hen! Get thee vertical!" so loudly that Cliodna, who had been meditating in the corner, levitated six feet in the air, although unfortunately Flora barely noticed.

Helga shook her head. "We'll see if she continues to lie abed once she realizes we shall breakfast without her."

Mavis Gaunt wandered over sleepily to wash her face in the basin. "Are we to rise this early every day?" she asked.

Helga looked over at the newly-awoken young ladies, faces shaking off sleep to be replaced with fresh excitement at their new lives.

"Oh yes," said Helga. "There is so much to be done!"


End file.
